Top 5 Things for Kids to Do in San Diego

Top 5 Things for Kids to Do in San Diego

Kids find San Diego to be a “paradise” with so many fun activities to enjoy. There is such a variety that it is hard to pinpoint just five “top things”, but here are some recommendations:

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

You can take a trip in an open-air Africa Tram Safari around this 1,800-acre realistic mini-safari wildlife preserve where you can observe and get close to over 3,500 African and Asian animals lounging in the grasslands and cooling off at watering holes in natural habitats. Included is a 33,000-square-foot Lion Camp where you can come face to face with lions!

This is an indoor Low Impact Paintball Park that also offers archery tag games, Nerf games, and more. It is the perfect place for children’s birthday parties as well as corporate and family events. Locally owned and operated by an enthusiastic group of paintball pros, Low Impact Paintball means that it is a safe as well as a fun experience on Astroturf, and the staff enforces industry standard safety rules. The paintballs are made 100% made in America, are smaller than the standard ones, and are brittle and not hard. The paint is a non-staining, non-toxic, bio-degradable one made especially for the park.

A full face mask is provided, and you can rent gloves, chest and neck protectors, if you desire. It is best to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and closed toe shoes.

Birch Aquarium

Explore a wide variety of marine life habitats at this public exploration center for the world-renowned Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It showcases the mysteries and wonders of air, ocean, and life through multimedia, interactive displays, and hands-on science education,. You can listen to whale songs when they use sound to communicate, learn about living breathing coral reefs, watch babies in the seahorse nursery, and pet some starfish!

Learn about the future of energy in Boundless Energy, the newest interactive exhibit that celebrates the innovative ways we can harness the renewable energy of the sun, wind and waves.

In the Hall of Fishes and Shark Reef there are over 60 habitats including a 70,000-gallon kelp forest tank, creatures from the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico, and some of the world’s most beautiful sharks.

San Diego Air & Space Museum

With San Diego being one of the great American aviation hubs, it is appropriate that this museum presents science, space, and aviation history that seems to come to life. It is a celebration of space and aviation flight that wants to inspire students to excel in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Don’t miss the mint-condition beautifully restored aircraft including military ones, the Apollo XI Space Pen. the unique 3-D/4-D Zable Theater where you can feel like you are flying, see a model of the Montgolfier brothers’ 1783 hot air balloon which is the first manned vehicle in recorded history to break gravity and lift humans above the Earth, see the antics of the 1920s barnstormers in the Golden Age of Flight Gallery, and so much more.

Knott’s Soak City Waterpark (Orange County)

This water adventure park with 13 acres is adjacent to the Knott’s Theme Park. It boasts 17 body and tube slides, a funnel with six stories, a Tidal Wave Bay pool with 750,000-gallons of water, a Toyota Beach House of three stories with 200 “water guns” and other surprises, a Sunset River to cruise down on a float, and more.

Also featured is the Gremmie Lagoon, which is a safe hands-on water playground for pint-sized children. There a selection of refreshments and snack options and a WipeOut! Surf Shop that sells seasonal merchandise and souvenirs